Fourth Grade Student Skills
HOW PARENTS CAN HELP
- Encourage reading by having a variety of newspapers, magazines and books at home.
- Share and discuss books and stories at home to motivate your child to read.
- Provide experiences by attending plays and movies.
- Provide opportunities for your child to communicate through writing.
- Discuss news at home.
- Help your child develop a better understanding of money. Provide opportunities for your child to practice making change after a purchase.
- Practice using a ruler.
- Use the newspaper to encourage your child to observe temperatures. Plot graphs of temperature highs and lows over a period of time.
- Visit a planetarium or look at the night sky through binoculars or a telescope.
- Visit historical places with your child. Before taking a trip, plan your route on a map with your child. Let your child use the map while in the car to follow the route.
Language Arts
The fourth grade student will:
Listening, Viewing and Speaking
- demonstrate effective listening skills
- interpret information presented orally (key points, details)
- speak clearly using correct grammar
- present ideas orally with peers
- present a report, speech or other oral presentation
- determine main concepts and supporting details in a nonprint media message (film, video, arts,
computers) - recognize and respond to nonverbal cues used in nonprint media (television advertisements, works
of art)
Structural Analysis and Vocabulary
- interpret the meaning of words in literary and informational texts
- recognize a synonym or antonym for an indicated word
- determine the effect of prefixes and suffixes on the meaning of words
Reading and Literature
- use prediction strategies and identify a purpose to prepare for reading
recognize details from texts and determine the sequence of events - identify main idea, draw conclusions and predict logical outcomes in literary and informational
texts - compare and contrast similarities and differences drawn from literary and informational texts
(characters, settings, events) - recognize major literary genres (fiction, poetry, drama, biography, historical fiction, etc.)
- recognize text structure in literary and informational texts (story patterns, rhyming, comparison
and contrast, cause and effect, sequence of events) - identify and interpret figurative language in literary texts (simile, alliteration, metaphor)
- analyze characterization in a literary selection
- interpret the plot and problem resolution in a literary selection
- identify the author's purpose
- differentiate between fact, fiction and opinions in texts
- justify an inference using specific information from the text
- relate attitudes, values and events of a time period to literary and informational texts
- identify personal reading preferences and read independently
- use a variety of strategies to monitor reading (rereading, reading on, self correcting, summarizing,
checking other sources)
Study and Reference
- use guide words to locate words in a dictionary
- use an index or a table of contents to find information
- use a variety of reference materials to find information
- organize information (outline, timeline, graphic organizer)
Writing
- use a variety of strategies to prepare for writing including clarifying purpose, brainstorming and
organizing - write a narrative or expository draft focusing on a central idea or topic
- create a written draft using an organizational pattern appropriate for the purpose and audience
- use support to develop ideas in writing (specific detail, precise word choice, examples)
- use devices to develop relationships among ideas in writing (transitional devices, paragraphs that
- show a change in time, idea or place, cause and effect relationships)
- use varied sentence structures in writing
- use conventions of punctuation, capitalization and spelling when writing
- respond to his/her writing and the writing of peers
- revise writing by adding, deleting and rearranging ideas and details
- edit writing for fragments, run on sentences and sentence clarity
- produce and share final writing products, including stories, letters, information reports and
evaluations
Grammar/Handwriting/Mechanics/Spelling
- use correct grammar
- use correct mechanics of language in writing
- spell commonly used words correctly
Mathematics
The fourth grade student will:
Number Sense
- read and write the numeral and word form for a whole number through millions
- demonstrate an understanding of place value of whole numbers to millions
- compare, order and round whole numbers through millions
- recall from memory the answer to a given multiplication or division fact
- find sums and differences of two or more whole numbers up to five digits with or without
regrouping - find products, quotients, factors and multiples of whole numbers
- determine the operations to solve one and two step problems involving addition, subtraction,
- multiplication and division of whole numbers, and addition and subtraction of decimals and fractions
- solve real world problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole
numbers using an appropriate method - solve multi step, real world problems involving whole numbers
- use estimation in problem solving
- understand and use appropriate notation to represent decimals
- compare and order decimals through hundredths
- find sums and differences of decimals
- solve real world problems involving money
- solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of decimals
- read, write, compare and order fractions and mixed numbers
- identify equivalent fractions
- locate fractions/mixed numbers on a number line
- identify equivalent numbers in different forms using whole numbers, decimals, fractions and mixed
numbers - add and subtract fractions through tenths
solve word problems using fractions - demonstrate an understanding of the properties of addition and multiplication
Measurement
- analyze a measurement task to determine appropriate units, tools and accuracy needed for a
solution - read and interpret the temperature using a Fahrenheit or Celsius thermometer
- estimate the quantity of a group of objects and justify the estimate
- solve problems involving length, weight or capacity/volume using U.S. customary or metric units
estimate and calculate perimeter and area - use real world settings including schedules, calendars or charts to solve problems involving time
- compute the change to be received when a specified amount of currency is presented for a
purchase
Geometry
- recognize and use appropriate geometric vocabulary to describe figures (faces, edges, vertices,
diameter) - use visual attributes and concrete materials to identify, classify and draw geometric figures
- recognize and describe lines of symmetry and reflections in geometric figures
- solve mathematical and real world problems involving the measurement of angles
Algebraic Thinking
- describe, extend, and create numerical and geometric patterns to solve problems
- translate a problem solving situation into an algebraic expression or equation
- solve number sentences with a variable
- identify, locate and plot ordered pairs of numbers on a graph
Data Analysis and Probability
- identify parts of a graph and their purpose
- display data on a graph using titles and labels
- interpret and compare information from different types of graphs
- identify the mean, median, mode and range from a set of data
- calculate the probability of a particular event occurring from a set of all possible outcomes
Problem Solving
- formulate problems from real world and mathematical situations
- apply strategies to solve d variety of word problems
Science
The fourth grade student will:
The Nature of Matter Chemistry
- understand the physical properties of changes
- recognize that matter is made of smaller pieces in different amounts
Energy
- identify various light and heat sources
- recognize ways that energy can be transformed
- identify properties of electricity and magnetism
- determine that moving electric charges produce magnetic forces and moving magnets produce
electric currents
Force and Motion - Physics
- recognize that waves behave differently in different media
- conduct experiments to verify facts about sound
- demonstrate an understanding of simple machines and their uses
Processes that Shape the Earth - Earth Science
- describe the process of rock formation in relation to the rock cycle and classify rocks igneous,
sedimentary or metamorphic - describe the water cycle including evaporation, transpiration, condensation and precipitation, and
- recognize how it is influenced by temperature and land features
- recognize the effects of weathering and erosion on the earth
- identify how a given weather factor influences the weather (temperature, air pressure, wind,
fronts) - explain the formation and destructive power of tornadoes
Earth and Space Astronomy
- recognize how the energy of the sun can be captured as a source of heat and light on earth
- recognize that the tilt of the earth causes the change of seasons and changes in the length of day
Processes of Life Biology
- understand that living things are composed of cells serving specific purposes
- identify the major organ systems of the human body and describe their functions
Ecology
- recognize that variations in light, water, temperature and soil content influence the existence of
different organisms and population densities - describe the process of decay
- describe the relationships among organisms in aquatic and terrestrial food webs
- describe ways in which people can conserve natural resources
The Nature of Science
- identify a problem, formulate a hypothesis and describe procedures to conduct an experiment
related to a scientific problem - use metric tools to measure, record and interpret data
- collect, classify and analyze data compiled from observations, experiments or investigations
propose and support conclusions based upon data from a scientific investigation or experiment - describe ways that people can solve problems, make decisions and formulate new ideas by using
science processes and knowledge - recognize the effects of technology on people and other living things
Social Studies
the fourth grade student will:
Focusing Skills and Knowledge Geography
- gather and interpret data from maps, globes, charts, graphs and other geographic tools to draw
conclusions about the physical features of Florida - recognize physical features of Florida
- identify ways geographic features influenced the exploration, colonization and expansion of
Florida
History
- recognize cultural, social and political features of diverse groups in the history of Florida and
present day - examine the exploration and Colonial Period of Florida
- understand the events leading to statehood of Florida
- examine Florida's role during the Civil War and Reconstruction
- examine the growth and change in Florida after the Civil War
- understand the contributions of significant men and women on the development of Florida
Government and Citizenship
- describe the role and function of local and Florida state government
- recognize the rights and responsibilities of individuals as well as the importance of personal and
civic responsibility
Economics
- apply basic economic concepts as they relate to Florida
- explain the basic concept of budgeting